“I’m talking to you about a time when those under 20…” Jean-Pierre Descombes left the airwaves for good on Sunday June 30, at the age of 76, his son Romain Descombes announced on Monday June 1is July, to Agence France-Presse. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for about ten years.
This native of Romans-sur-Isère, in the Drôme (in December 1947), was one of the great supporting actors of the television of yesteryear. He had his moment of glory, from March 1976 to January 1987, in “Les Jeux de 20 heures” on FR3 (which became France 3). A general knowledge television show where, under the leadership of the inflexible master Capello (real name Jacques Capelovici), celebrities of the time and viewers were interviewed live from all regions of France by Jean-Pierre Descombes, microphone in hand. We have somewhat forgotten, but FR3 was the acronym for France Régions 3… before the term “regions” fell by the wayside.
Until the arrival of Canal+ in November 1984, then La Cinq and the short-lived TV6 (dedicated to music for young people) in 1986, this question-and-answer game was for a long time the only alternative, at prime time, to the 8 p.m. news broadcasts on TF1 and Antenne 2 (which became France 2). Hence an unprecedented audience.
Shadow Conductor
Rarely in front of the camera as in the “20 Hours Games”, most often behind, Jean-Pierre Descombes practiced his profession in the shadow of the star presenters, embodying the voice-over of “The Price is Right”, “Une famille en or” on TF1, “Fa si la chanter” (with Guy Lux) on France 3. “In studio shows, I lose my composure a little bit., he confided to the Monde in July 2003. I’m more of an outdoorsman.” From the outside and behind the scenes.
On the sets, his role was what is called, in television jargon, “room driver”: welcoming the audience, putting them at ease, entertaining them, giving the signal for laughter and applause… “I’m here so that the public doesn’t see time pass”he said modestly. Invisible but not inactive, he did not disdain his role as a shadow conductor. His arms rise, his voice rises, immediately taken up in chorus by the audience. “What is important is to establish a bond with the facilitator, he said. That’s what’s interesting to me.”
Read the portrait (in 2003): Article reserved for our subscribers Jean-Pierre Descombes, “king of heating”
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” During the holidayssays this son of traders from Drôme to Release, I helped my father with the markets, but in my head I already wanted to be an entertainer.” Having come to Monaco one summer in the mid-1960s, the young man slipped into the summer tour organized by Télé Monte-Carlo (TMC). “I was selling candy, ice cream. I was also at the cash register and I was entertaining the public a little.” Having become a prop master and then assistant director at just 17 years old, he went to Paris and was hired as an assistant at Télé Union, the production company of Jacques Antoine (1924-2012), inventor of numerous television games, including « The Schmilblick”, “Fort Boyard” or “Turn the carousel!”.
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